Players, Please Board the Train

Compared to the frantic rage over in Country Y, Capital City was celebrating a nationwide triumph. Although the black rain stopping couldn’t solve the fundamental problem right away, it would at least prevent more places from being polluted. More importantly, this was a critical signal—it meant the disaster brought by the black rain was beginning to wind down.

The internet was filled with joy, and the Special Defense Department was energized. They prioritized rescue operations and temporarily suspended evacuation missions.

At the same time, Nie Xuan led his team to search along the direction the Mutants had charged. Based on the intelligence they received, they locked down a park and a river. The Special Defense Department coordinated with nearby armed police to quickly surround the area where enemies might be hiding, conducting a carpet-style search.

Before they could even investigate these individuals, some players were reported by local citizens for suspicious behavior. Even enthusiastic players voluntarily organized to assist the Special Defense Department, which helped them quickly uncover the hiding spots of foreign players. The arrest operation proceeded smoothly.

By the time Nie Xuan was wrapping up, the sky was already bright. The black rain had long since stopped, and the cordon around the Special Defense Department began to shrink back toward the headquarters building.

”Are we just going to stall like this?” Team Leader Chang asked Minister Fan. ”If we drag it out too long, more people will turn into Mutants, and our losses will only get worse.”

The Special Defense Department had already lost quite a few players this time. Some elite players had to be shot on the spot after being contaminated. Even now, people were still being attacked by those undergoing Mutant transformation, causing a polarization of opinions within the department.

One camp wanted to wait for news from the research institute, since the Mutant toxin in the black rain had been confirmed to be neutralizable by the antidote fungus.

The other camp believed the antidote would take too long to develop, and the losses during that time were incalculable. More importantly, maintaining stability was the top priority. After a whole night, no one knew exactly how many people had been contaminated by the black rain. Individual differences could cause the mutation timeline to stretch unpredictably—like landmines that might explode at any moment. A thorough investigation was the most important thing.

Of course, the latter viewpoint wasn’t wrong. There had been plenty of cases in the past where people hid symptoms of family members or friends out of love or friendship, leading to severe accidents. But abandoning so many people outright was a decision no one could make. Right now, they were just buying time.”Let’s wait,” Minister Fan said, looking exhausted as he arranged the work. ”First, lock down those who’ve already mutated. Guide the contaminated but still capable people to scatter and hide. Do what we can do. As for the rest... leave it to fate.”

Even if they successfully extracted the detoxifying elements from the antidote fungus, mass-producing it into large quantities of potions would take time. This wasn’t a manpower issue—it was a potion ingredient problem. Some of the required ingredients simply weren’t available in Zone 014.

”At least there’s good news,” Team Leader Wu said. ”Country Y can’t cause any more trouble, and Nie Xuan handled things efficiently.”

”That’s good,” Minister Fan said, pausing for a moment before he couldn’t help asking, ”What’s Xu Huo doing?”

”He’s still in Wenshan,” Team Leader Wu replied. ”The helicopter has already withdrawn.”

”I heard from Nie Xuan that he might have a solution?” Minister Fan held onto a glimmer of hope. ”Give him a call and urge him. Tell him not to hold back at a time like this. Afterward, the Special Defense Department will settle all the debts from his previous help, with interest, in one go.”

Team Leader Wu sighed and did as he was told.

With so many people contaminated, even if Xu Huo had antidotes stockpiled, how many could he actually save?

But he had to make the call anyway. At the very least, he needed to ask if Xu Huo was injured.

Xu Huo was outside the reservoir, playing a game on his phone with Painting Woman.

The black rain falling upward was something he hadn’t expected at all. The rainwater appeared to be falling toward the sky, but it actually vanished within the rain clouds. There was a large volume of water, but the time was too short, so not much of the black rain was reversed. When the rain stopped, the item cube fell to the ground. The rain cloud pattern on it stopped flashing, and the raindrops disappeared.

Unfortunately, he still couldn’t store the item in his item slot, but it could now be placed in his luggage compartment. He planned to look up more information once he reached District 011.

Glancing at the growth of the King Fungus in the reservoir, he said to Team Leader Wu, ”Send someone to take over the reservoir in half an hour.”

”What’s in the reservoir?” Team Leader Wu asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

”You’ll know when they get here,” Xu Huo emphasized. ”But wait half an hour.”

”Fine! Fine!” Team Leader Wu replied joyfully.

Hanging up the phone, Xu Huo stretched his limbs, looked at the rising sun in the sky, and said, ”Time to get ready.”

This amount of time wouldn’t be enough to turn all the water in the reservoir into antidote, but it should be sufficient to delay the onset of the poison’s effects. He’d leave the rest to the Special Defense Department.

Painting Woman, deeply absorbed in her game, was stabbing her finger furiously at her phone. ”I haven’t won a single round.”

”As expected,” Xu Huo said. ”You’ve only been playing games for how long? I’ve been playing for twenty years.”

He was in a good mood, but Painting Woman was exceptionally mournful. ”But you’ve won all my pocket money!”

The allowance he’d promised her and the bonus for completing her part-time job hadn’t even left Xu Huo’s account. Instead, half of Painting Woman’s own stash had been cleaned out.

”Don’t you still have half left?” Xu Huo said with a grin. ”Work hard, you’ll earn it back.”

Painting Woman was no longer the gullible Painting Woman she used to be. How much could she earn working at a hotel? In just a few rounds of gaming, she’d lost more than she’d made. Making a logical leap, she immediately searched online for ways to make quick money, then stared intensely at the words ”bank robbery” on her screen.

”Small branches don’t usually keep much cash on hand,” Xu Huo said. ”The places with large amounts of cash at all times are armored cars and gold vaults. Low cost, low risk, high reward.”

The more he talked, the brighter Painting Woman’s eyes grew. She quickly typed out a message: ”Let’s go, let’s rob a gold vault!”

”Not going to work anymore?” Xu Huo asked, looking at her with a half-smile.

”Working doesn’t make money.” Painting Woman looked dejected. ”I don’t want to work anymore.”

”What do you need so much money for anyway? As long as you have enough to get by.” Xu Huo said. ”After this is over, do you want to go visit other zones? I have an ancient castle in District 011, full of good stuff. Fun items are everywhere, much more interesting than in Zone 014.”

”Really?” Painting Woman was tempted by his words. ”Can you give me the house?”

”Sure.” Xu Huo didn’t even bat an eye. ”Once we get there, it’s yours.”

Painting Woman jumped for joy on the spot, then asked him, ”Will it cost money to play games in District 011?”

”No,” Xu Huo said without a second thought. ”The games in District 011 are even more fun than phone games.”

Painting Woman was a woman of action. ”So when are we leaving?”

”When I take care of one more thing. Whenever I finish it, we’ll go.” Xu Huo paused, then added, ”If you help, it shouldn’t take too long.”

Painting Woman nodded eagerly, like a chick pecking at rice, and dutifully helped him lift a box from the reservoir. ”Before we leave, can you give me a little more pocket money?”